7 




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Reprinted from the 

tCATIONAL REVIEW 
New York, April, 1896 



EDUCATIONAL MUSEUMS AND 
LIBRARIES OF EUROPE 



^'-^/' 



BY 



WILL S. MONROE 



■Ml 




VI 

EDUCATIONAL MUSEUMS AND LIBRARIES OF 

EUROPE 

Probably the first formulated statement of the need and 
character of a distinctively educational museum appeared in a 
monograph' by School Inspector General Jullien of France in 
1817. Jullien was indoctrinated with the educational theories 
of Pestalozzi and desirous of their adoption in his own 
country. He maintained that an important step in education 
would be taken if there could be opened at Paris a permanent 
exhibit of the teaching appliances used by Pestalozzi, together 
with sets of those in use in other countries, and a library con- 
taining the writings of standard pedagogical authors, Jullien's 
well-directed suggestions, however, seem to have borne no 
immediate fruit. 

From the beginning of the present century, and in connec- 
tion with various industrial and trades' expositions in Europe, 
there had been exhibits of pupils' work and teaching appli- 
ances; but the purpose was the temporary display of local 
conditions rather than a permanent representation of edu- 
cational progress. Perhaps the first permanent exhibit of 
teaching appliances was that opened at Stuttgart in 185 1. It 
was in no sense a special educational museum, but merely one 
section of the Wurtemburg industrial museum. 

What will surprise most readers is the fact that the first dis- 
tinctively educational museum was organized in America — the 
Educational Museum at Toronto, Canada, founded in 1853. 
Four years later, 1857, as an outgrowth of the educational 
congress and exhibit held at St. Maryn's Hall, London, the 
Educational Division of the South Kensington Museum was 

' Jullien, Esquisse et vue pr^iminaire d'un ouvrage sur V Education compar/e 
(Paris ; 1817). 

374 



Museums a?id libraries of Europe 375 

formed. The next one organized was at St. Petersburg in 
1864. A year later one was organized at Leipzig, which, after 
six years of struggle, was merged into the Comenius-Stiftung. 
The Bureau of Education at Washington was estabHshed 
in 1867. Three years later the national teachers' association 
of Holland formed an educational museum at Amsterdam. 
During the decade from 1870 to 1880, no less than a dozen 
similar institutions were organized in Europe. 

Some of these museums, as, for instance, at St. Petersburg, 
Paris, Brussels, and London (Educational Division of the 
South Kensington Museum), have been established and are 
wholly maintained by the national governments, and are con- 
sidered an integral part of the general system of education. 
Several — at Munich, Budapest, and Neuchatel — are maintained 
by state or cantonal governments. Berlin (the city museum), 
Hamburg, Hanover, and Lisbon are the creations of city 
governments. Others, as Amsterdam, Berlin (the German 
museum), Hildesheim, Jena, Brunswick, Stockholm, and Lon- 
don (Teachers' Guild) have been organized and are supported 
by teachers' associations. A number of these educational 
museums have been started as memorials to great educators, 
as that in Leipzig to Comenius, that in Zurich to Pestalozzi, 
and that in Fribourg to Girard. 

There are in all thirty-five educational museums in Europe 
in active operation and two — Vienna and Rome — that are 
temporarily closed. A few have only the school museum, and 
two or three only the pedagogical library. The general aim 
of all is to bring to the attention of the teachers of their own 
city, state, or country, the best methods and aids in teaching, 
the steps of educational progress, the writings of great edu- 
cators, and the condition of schools and education in the 
different countries of the world. Several of the most impor- 
tant educational museums described in this article were visited 
by the writer. For accounts of the others he has relied upon 
the excellent monograph" by Julius Beeger, and the reports, 

' Beeger, Die Pddagogischen Bibliotheken, Schulmuseen und stdndigen Lehrmittel- 
ausstellungen der Welt (Leipzig, 1892). 



2y'j^ Educational Review [April 

catalogues, and personal information furnished him by the 
directors of these different institutions. 

England — There are two educational museums in England — 
the Educational Division of the South Kensington Museum 
and the Teachers' Guild of Great Britain and Ireland. The 
former, as already noted, grew out of the educational exhibit 
and congress held in London in 1854, although it was not for- 
mally opened until 1857. Its object, as set forth in a prelimi- 
nary announcement, was to "aid all classes of the public, and 
especially those engaged in teaching, by bringing together all 
that is new and worthy of attention relating to education, both 
in its primary and secondary branches, whether of home or 
foreign production." 

Although organized and controlled by the state, the growth 
of the museum was due largely to the assistance given by the 
producers of educational books and apparatus. Each object 
was labeled with its name and use, the retail price, and the 
name and address of the donor or exhibitor. The school 
exhibit had eight departments: (i) school furniture and fit- 
tings, models of buildings, etc. ; (2) cabinets and apparatus 
for object lessons, toys, doll houses, etc. ; (3) drawing models 
and materials; (4) musical instruments, especially such as 
illustrate acoustics; (5) collections illustrating household and 
social economy; (6) apparatus for elementary geography and 
astronomy; (7) appliances for teaching the blind; (8) hy- 
giene and means of physical training. In 1879 ^^^ museum 
was called upon to vacate the rooms occupied by the school 
furniture and the non-scientific apparatus, and these were 
crowded into a wooden building and unsuitable corridors. 
Nine years later these portions of the museum were dispersed 
— the loan collections returned to the owners; and such as 
belonged to the museum packed and stored. In the official 
report for that year, it is stated that want of space rendered 
this necessary. 

The library, however, has continued to grow from the first. 
Its aim has been to afford teachers and others interested in 
education opportunities for examining and comparing the 



1 896 J Museums and libraries of Europe 377 

various publications used in schools, together with such books 
as bear on the history and progress of education at home and 
abroad. Many of the books have been gifts; and one notes a 
disproportion which is inevitable in a collection so largely 
made up of donations. 

In its original plan, the library included fourteen depart- 
ments: (i) English language and literature; (2) classical lan- 
guage and literature; (3) modern language and literature; (4) 
biography and history ; (5) theology and church history ; (6) 
works on pedagogy, reports, examination papers, etc. ; (7) polit- 
ical, domestic, and social economy; (8) drawing and writing; 
(9) music; (10) mathematics; (i i) geography and astronomy;. 
(12) geology and mineralogy; (13) botany and general natural 
history; (14) chemistry, general physics, and mechanics. Since 
1883 no books have been added to the first five departments. 
The present aim is to make it strictly an education and science 
library. The library numbers 77,000 volumes, 10,500 of which 
are works on pedagogy, reports, examination papers, etc. 
The first catalogue was printed in 1857, and nine subsequent 
additions have appeared. A new catalogue, containing all the 
books on education, was published in 1893. 

The Teachers' Guild of Great Britain and Ireland was organ- 
ize in 1885, but it succeeded an earlier organization — the 
Educational Society. Robert Hebert Quick, so well known 
in this country and the sense of whose loss is so fresh upon 
us, was one of the chief promoters of the Guild, Its aims are 
threefold: (i) to form a society which shall be thoroughly 
representative of all grades of teachers, and which shall be 
able to speak with knowledge and authority on all matters of 
education ; (2) to obtain for the whole body of teachers the 
status of a learned profession; (3) to enable teachers, by union 
and co-operation, to make better provision for sickness and old 
age, and by the same means to do all such other lawful things as 
may conduce to their own welfare and the benefit of the public. 

The central office of the Teachers' Guild is in London (74 
Gower Street), with thirty branches in different parts of Great 
Britain and Ireland and the English possessions in Asia, Africa^ 



37^ Educational Review [April 

and Australia. The scheme for the school museum includes 
(i) a collection of school documents (curricula, time-tables, 
syllabuses of lessons, examination papers, etc.); (2) school 
class books of all kinds; (3) apparatus for history teaching; 
(4) apparatus for geography teaching; (5) classical and anti- 
quarian section (models of ancient dress, plans of cities, 
temples, battlefields, etc); (6) school plant and apparatus; 
(7) anthropometry; (8) music and drawing. Only a beginning 
has yet been made in the museum. 

The library of the Guild aims to supply teachers with the 
books necessary for their professional training. So far it num- 
bers but six thousand volumes, twenty-seven hundred of which 
are strictly pedagogical. Nine hundred of these were pre- 
sented to the Guild by Mrs. Quick after the death of her 
husband, and two hundred of the rarer books used by Mr. 
Quick in the preparation of his Educational reformers she has 
loaned to the library. One hundred volumes from the library 
of the late Mr. W. H. Widgery, one of the early promoters of 
the Guild, have been presented as a Widgery memorial. The 
library of the Teachers' Guild is the best small collection of 
pedagogical books that has come to the writer's attention in 
his European studies; and connected with no educational 
museum or library has he found a more zealous band of edu- 
cational workers — men like Watson, Storr, Russell, Garrod, 
and Mitchell, most of whom are known in America through 
their writings. 

France — The Mus6e P^dagogique at Paris is the creation of 
the French government. It was organized in 1879 — J^st after 
the great exposition — largely through the efforts of M. Ferdi- 
nand Buisson, the present director of elementary instruction. 
It occupies a large three-story building of thirty rooms in the 
Latin quarter of the city (41 Rue Gay-Lussac) and is unques- 
tionably the best equipped and best supported educational 
museum in the world. The most considerable accessions to 
the museum have come through the expositions of 1878 and 
1889, although the government has spared no expense to 
make it first-class in every department. 



1896] Museums and libraries of Europe 2>79' 

Manual training in all its varied forms of expression is fully 
represented. The physical and chemical laboratories are most 
complete. There is a splendid collection of objects in clay, 
wax, and glass, representing every department of natural his- 
tory. In the hall filled with beautiful marbles, casts, photo- 
graphs, and other reproductions to illustrate art education,, 
there is such an artistic representation of masterpieces as only 
France could bring together. Perhaps there is nowhere a 
fuller collection of the appliances to be used in the teaching 
of geography — globes, maps, charts, pictures, diagrams — than 
herCo Schoolhouses in miniature, school furniture, heating 
and ventilating appliances, plans and photographs of school 
buildings, and all the conceivable illustrative aids to be used 
in teaching, bring the number of objects up to something over 
six thousand and fill a dozen rooms. But with this superb 
collection — costing vast sums of money and including about 
everything that is best in the way of teaching appliances — 
there is a want of organization and a failure to keep the 
objects in proper condition which render it less helpful to the 
student of education than the much smaller, but better organ- 
ized and better kept, museum at Brussels. 

The library of the Musee Pedagogique numbers fifty thou- 
sand volumes, and these have been secured almost entirely by 
purchase. The result is a much better selection than one 
finds in the large pedagogical libraries at Leipzig, Zurich, and 
London, where accessions have been made so largely through 
gifts. Every department of education — the history, theory, 
practice, method, growth of institutions and school systems, 
treatment of defectives — is here represented by the best books 
in the leading modern languages. The periodical, reference, 
and reading rooms are admirably equipped for the accommo- 
dation of students and readers. One finds here every educa- 
tional journal of worth — in whatever language — that is printed 
in the world to-day. The library occupies sixteen rooms. 

Through the circulating department of the library, students 
and teachers are reached in every part of the republic. All 
such books are forwarded and returned, postage free, as 



3 So Educational Review [April 

government matter. Books may be kept for two months. 
The circulating department of the library has three sections: 
(i) letters, including works on the French language and liter- 
ature, history, geography, and political economy; (2) science, 
including mathematics, physics, chemistry, natural history, 
agriculture, horticulture, and hygiene; (3) pedagogy, includ- 
ing general works on education, history of pedagogy, philoso- 
phy, psychology, ethics, civics, school legislation, and the 
theory, practice, and history of the fine arts. 

Connected with the Mus^e Pedagogique are several confer- 
ences on different educational topics. One of these is the 
Franco-English Guild, under the direction of Mile. Williams, 
professor of English language and literature in the Ecole 
Normale at Fouteney-aux-Roses, and devoted to the interests 
of modern languages. It has its own special library, lectures, 
conferences, and classes, and publishes a journal in English for 
the French teachers of this language. 

Much of the best modern French literature on education has 
emanated from the Mus^e Pedagogique. Besides the monthly 
journal. Revue Pedagogique, devoted to elementary education, 
which has been printed since 1882, and the monographs" which 
it published in 1889, it has been publishing a series of 
memoirs* since 1884 on every phase of educational activity, 
more than 125 of which have already appeared. The printed 
catalogue' of the library, prepared by Profesor Bonet-Maury 
of the University of Paris, is the best bibliography of educa- 
tion ever published in any language. It should be noted, in 
passing, that probably no professional library anywhere is more 
used than this at Paris. And its readers include not only 
Frenchmen, but also Englishmen, Russians, Americans, 
Italians, Bulgarians, Belgians, and Spaniards. The French 
government, with characteristic generosity, freely admits the 
pedagogues of all nationalities to its use; and those who know 

3 Monographies p/dagogiques publi/es A l' occasion de V Exposition Universelle de 
1889, 6 vols. (Paris, 1889). 
< Af /moires et documents scolaires publi/s par le Mus/e P/dagogique. 
"Bonet-Maury, Catalogue des ouvr ages et documents, 3 Tome (Paris, 1891). 



1896] Museums and libraries of Europe 381 

it best, pay it highest tribute. A German educator, in describ- 
ing it, remarked : "There is only one such collection of peda- 
gogical books in the world." 

Germany — But Germany is the country of educational 
museums. It has in all seventeen, or nearly half the number 
in all Europe. With a few exceptions, however, these are 
small exhibits of school work and teaching appliances or 
inconsiderable pedagogical libraries. The pedagogical library 
(Padagogische Centralbibliothek) at Leipzig, and formerly 
known as the Comenius-Stiftung, is a notable exception. To 
except a small exhibit which it inherited from an earlier 
organization, it dates its beginning from 1871 — the two hun- 
dredth anniversary of the death of Comenius. Its concep- 
tion and remarkable growth have been almost entirely due to 
the efforts of one man — Julius Beeger, an enthusiastic student 
of the writings of Comenius, and until lately the director of 
the library. He began by issuing appeals to teachers, pastors, 
and friends of education generally; soliciting gifts in books and 
money. At the end of the first year the library numbered 
2642 volumes, all but one of which had been acquired as gifts. 
At the end of ten years the library numbered 30,919 volumes, 
only 45 1 1 of which had been bought directly out of the 
library's funds. It now numbers 66,604 volumes — probably the 
largest collection of pedagogical books in the world, although 
in no sense so select a library as the one at Paris. 

The first volume of the catalogue* has been printed, and 
other volumes are to follow. The library is subdivided into 
fifty-six departments, only a few of which can here be noted : 
Encyclopedias of pedagogy, 12 different works; collections of 
standard pedagogical writers, 72; number of different educa- 
tional journals — in German, 296; in Danish and Swedish, 4; 
in English, 27; in French, 8; in Hollandish, 6; in Italian, 6; 
in Portuguese and Spanish, 5; in Slavic, 6; sources of the 
history of pedagogy, no volumes; general works on the 
history of pedagogy, 29; history of distinct periods in educa- 

* Beeger, Katalog der Pddagogischen Centralbibliothek {Comenius Stiftung), Zu 
Leipzig, I Bande, II. Auflage (Leipzig, 1892). 



382 Educational Review [April 

tion, 150; histories of education in different countries, 339; 
•educational biographies, 472; histories of individual educa- 
tional institutions, 3044; systematic pedagogy, 106; physical 
•education, 205, etc. It covers in fact every possible depart- 
ment of educational thought, and is especially strong in the 
literature relating to the common {Bilrger) schools of Germany. 

Students of education are always welcomed and are given 
every possible assistance by the library management. It is 
under the control of the Leipzig teachers' association, and is 
sustained in part by the association and in part by appropria- 
tions from the city of Leipzig and the kingdom of Saxony. 
The library publishes a weekly journal for teachers, the Leip- 
ziger Lehrerzeitung. 

Berlin has two educational museums — the city (Stadtische 
Schulmuseum) and the German (Deutsche Schulmuseum) 
school museums. The former was organized in 1875, and is 
under the control of the city authorities and receives an annual 
appropriation of about $1000. It has a considerable collection 
of illustrative apparatus and a library of 14,500 volumes. The 
German school museum was organized in 1876 by the Berlin 
teachers' association. It has a library of 16,000 volumes, and 
has aimed to make complete collections of the writings by and 
about Pestalozzi, Diesterweg, and Herbart. 

The Thuringen school museum was opened at Jena in 1889. 
It is controlled by the Thuringen teachers' association, but its 
growth has been largely due to the enterprise of Ernst Piltz, 
the director. The collection of school furniture, teaching 
appliances, maps, charts, and text-books is good, although the 
library of strictly pedagogical books is not large. There is, 
however, at Jena, in connection with Professor Rein's peda- 
gogical seminary, a professional library of about a thousand 
volumes. 

Bavaria has two educational museums — one at Donauworth, 
organized in 1875, and under the control of the Bavarian 
Society for Catholic Education, with a library of 40,000 
volumes, and the other founded at Munich the same year and 
controlled by the government. The latter has a permanent 



1896] Museums a7id libraries of Europe 383 

school exhibit of some importance and a library largely com- 
posed of text-books. 

The Mecklenburg school museum, located at Rostock, was 
organized 1887, and has a library of 2246 volumes. The 
teachers' association of the Province of Saxony organized a 
permanent school exhibit at Magdeburg in 1881. The educa- 
tional museums at Kiel and Konigsberg were both organized 
by local teachers' associations; the former in 1890, and the 
latter in 1879. That at Konigsberg has a library of 5000 
volumes. The educational library at Hanover was organized 
by the city; and that at Hildesheim in 1889 by the local 
teachers and has a library of 1000 volumes. At Hamburg, 
since 1891, the local government has set apart the educa- 
tional books in the city library in a room especially fitted up 
for the use of the teachers. At Stuttgart, as before noted, 
the educational museum is one section of a permanent indus- 
trial exhibit. In addition, there are in Germany small school 
museums at Augsburg, Brunswick, and Dresden. 

Russia — The largest exhibit made by any educational 
museum at the Chicago exposition, with the possible excep- 
tion of the Bureau of Education of this country, was that of 
Russia. Although under the administration of the depart- 
ment of war, the Mus6e P6dagogique of Russia is conducted 
in the interests of general education. It was organized as 
early as 1864, at which time the Russian government bought 
of Germany, France, England, and Italy large collections of 
school apparatus which were displayed, in a building set aside 
for an educational museum, at St. Petersburg. At the time 
no suitable apparatus was manufactured in Russia. It was 
soon discovered, however, that the imported material was too 
expensive and not entirely suited for general use. It was 
accordingly decided that the museum should manufacture cer- 
tain pieces of school apparatus at government expense and 
sell the same to the schools at nominal cost. The movement 
succeeded even better than was anticipated, and after a short 
time cheap workshops for the manufacture of physical appa- 
ratus were organized at various centers. The museum has con- 



384 Educational Review [April 

tinued to make collections of the best teaching appliances 
used at home and abroad, until at the present time it numbers 
16,500 pieces — probably the largest in the world. 

The library numbers 15,000 volumes besides the publication 
by the museum of certain text-books for the use of the young — 
165,000 copies of one text for reading and writing having been 
printed. During the winter months, when the library is most 
used, from 70,000 to 100,000 books are drawn. The museum 
edits a pedagogical journal, and at different times has printed 
courses of study and suggestions to teachers. It also pro- 
vides schools with collections for scientific instruction, and 
gives them the temporary use of magic lanterns, slides, etc. 
During the past twenty-five years, it has provided 122 1 public 
lectures, 1182 readings for the people, 190 musical concerts, 
and provided the apparatus for 163,187 lessons. The mu- 
seum's aim, as formulated by the director, is (i) to be useful 
to the educated and uneducated classes of the metropolis, 
as well as to all who may seek its counsels and assistance- 
(2) to look upon the collection of school apparatus not as a 
final aim, but as a means of present improvement; (3) to keep 
its operations not only open to the government, but also to 
public control. 

The museum organizes special conferences for the discus- 
sion of educational questions ; and all persons having the cer- 
tificate to teach in middle or higher schools, teachers of the 
Holy Scripture, medical men, and persons connected with the 
administration of the schools are eligible to active membership 
in these conferences. At the present time there are eight 
such conferences organized in connection with the museum, as 
follows: (i) general pedagogical section; (2) section for the 
study of the Russian language and literature; (3) mathe- 
matics; (4) physics, chemistry, and cosmography; (5) geog- 
raphy and natural history; (6) foreign languages (French and 
German) ; (7) parents' circle, including teachers, physicians, and 
parents interested in the physical and mental development of 
young children ; (8) section for the discussion of questions 
relating to the delivery of public lectures. 



1896] Museums and libraries of Europe 385 

The operations of the Russian educational museum have 
twice been exhibited in this country by large and creditable 
displays — at Philadelphia in 1876, and again at Chicago in 1893. 
It had similar exhibits at Paris in 1878 and 1889 and at Brus- 
sels in 1880. Special exhibits were also made in connection 
with the international geographical congress at Paris in 1875 
and the international hygienic congress at Brussels in 1876. 
It exhibited its workings to the Russian people at St. Peters- 
burg in 1870, in connection with the manufacturers' exposi- 
tion, with a display of foreign school appliances and its own 
reproduction of the same. Two years later it participated in 
the polytechnic exhibition at Moscow; and in 1890 it organ- 
ized and conducted at St. Petersburg the first Russian exhibi- 
tion of children's toys, games, and occupations. 

Switzerland — The Swiss people have always been inter- 
ested in education; and this interest is manifested not only 
in the character of their elementary schools and higher institu- 
tions of learning, but also in the establishment and mainte- 
nance of other educational agencies, including school museums 
and pedagogical libraries. There are four well-organized edu- 
cational museums in Switzerland. The most important of 
these is the Pestalozzianum at Zurich, organized 1875. The 
others are at Fribourg, Berne, and Neuchatel. The Pesta- 
lozzianum has four departments: (i) public collections, includ- 
ing apparatus illustrating the present workings of the Swiss 
schools, an exhibit illustrating educational practices in other 
countries, a Pestalozzi memorial room, archives for the history 
and statistics of education in Switzerland, and a library of 
pedagogical literature ; (2) a bureau which shall organize educa- 
tional conferences; (3) public lectures; (4) publication of 
educational literature. 

The museum contains very complete lines of work done in 
the Swiss schools, samples of teaching apparatus used, as well 
as appliances illustrative of the teaching aids in foreign coun- 
tries. The exhibit is especially complete in the subjects of 
drawing and manual training. One room — the holy of holies — 
has been set aside as a memorial to Pestalozzi. Besides 1000 



386 Educational Review [April 

Pestalozzian manuscripts and 1350 books and pamphlets relat- 
ing to the great Swiss educator, it has the cradle in which he 
was rocked, and other personal mementoes, together with a 
fine collection of photographs of the different scenes of his 
labors, and a full series of his portraits in paintings and 
engravings. 

The library contains 17,100 volumes, and the catalogue^ 
just printed shows a wide range of educational thought. From 
the first it has been under the direction of Professor Hunziker 
of the University of Zurich; and although aiming primarily , to 
promote the interests of the elementary schools, it has always 
been an organic part of the university instruction in pedagogy. 
Since 1880, it has published the Pestalozzibldtter , a high-grade 
monthly journal devoted to the interests of education. The 
Pestalozzianum derives its revenues from a number of sources — 
the Pestalozzi Society, the city and canton of Zurich, and the 
Swiss government. 

The Musee Pedagogique at Fribourg was organized in 1884, 
chiefly through the efforts of M. Leon Genoud, who repre- 
sented the Swiss government at the educational congresses 
held at Chicago in 1893. The museum has four departments: 
(i) collections of teaching appliances; (2) pedagogical library; 
(3) works by Pere Girard, and books relating to him ; (4) docu- 
ments relating to the history of education, school legislation, 
and statistics. The museum contains 9733 objects, and the 
library 4643 volumes. It is especially strong on educational 
works in the French and German languages. It publishes a 
journal for teachers — the Bulletin Pedagogique. 

The educational museum (Sweizerische permanante Schul- 
ausstellung) at Berne was founded 1 879, although there had been 
before that date a permanent school exhibit in connection with 
the industrial exposition, on the plan of the one at Stuttgart. 
It is managed by a teachers' association, and the city and 
canton of Berne contribute toward its support. It includes (i) 
appliances illustrating Swiss education ; (2) models of school- 
houses, furniture, etc., used in foreign countries; (3) objects 
"' Hunziker, Katalog der Bibliothek des Pestalozzianums (Zurich, 1894). 



1896] Museums and libraries of Europe 387 

and materials illustrating the history of education ; and 
(4) a pedagogical library. The museum has 1506 pieces, and 
the library 8000 volumes. A monthly journal, the Pionier, is 
published by the museum management. 

In 1887 the educational museum (rExposition Scolaire Per- 
manente) of Neuchatel was formed by the educational depart- 
ment of the canton government. It aims to illustrate by 
pupils' work, text-books, and teaching appliances the subjects 
taught in the elementary schools. 

Austria-Hungary — When preparations were being made for 
the great international exposition of 1873 at Vienna, it was 
decided to organize a permanent educational museum (Per- 
manente Lehrmittel Ausstellung). A government regulation 
provided that all new and valuable teaching appliances intended 
for elementary schools should be procured and exhibited here. 
The museum was well equipped by the accessions which came 
to it through the exposition. It continued to grow, in spite 
of insufficient funds, until it included 19,000 objects. But 
financial difficulties finally compelled it to close. How long it 
will remain closed, no one with whom the writer communicated 
seemed to know; but it does not seem probable that a great 
city like Vienna will be long without this educational institu- 
tion. A recent monograph' by Professor Stejskal shows that 
the Austrian schoolmen are agitating its reopening with con- 
siderable vigor. 

At Bozen a permanent school exhibit was opened in 1889, 
and the same year the teachers' association of Tyrol organized 
an educational museum at Innsbruck. The educational mu- 
seum at Graz was opened in 1881. It occupies seven rooms 
and has both a museum and library. The former includes 
■6840 objects, and the latter contains 2000 volumes. 

Hungary has shown a larger interest in her educational 
museum than Austria. From the first it has been a state insti- 
tution and has received liberal support. The Hungarian edu- 
cational museum (Orszagos tanszer-miiseum fo-feliigyelosege) 

^Stejskal, Die Errichtung eines k. k., osterreichischen Museums fur ErziC' 
hung und Unterricht (Wien, 1894). 



o 



88 Educational Review [April 



was opened at Budapest in 1877. It has fifteen sections, 
including plans and models of schoolhouses and furniture, 
kindergarten supplies, apparatus for teaching the blind, outfits 
for physical and chemical laboratories, globes, tellurians, maps, 
and other geographical appliances, musical instruments, draw- 
ing models and casts, and sets of tools used in the manual- 
training schools. It numbers about 5000 pieces, and the library 
contains 1200 volumes. A number of educational conferences 
are organized in connection with the museum. 

Belgiwn — The educational museum (Musee Scolaire 
National) at Brussels is conceded by all familiar with such 
institutions to be one of the best in the world — ranking in size 
and excellence with St. Petersburg and Paris. The writer 
found the museum portion more helpful than the one at Paris, 
because of superior organization and greater care of the articles 
displayed. The library bears no comparison with that at Paris, 
or a half dozen others in Europe. This museum was the out- 
growth of the international exposition held at Brussels in 
1880, one of the exposition buildings (Palais du Cinquantenaire) 
having been set aside for its use. It derives its support wholly 
from the government, and this from the first has been liberal — 
$3000 to $4000 a year. 

In arrangement and display of work, the museum at Brussels 
is a model. It has nineteen departments, and an excellent 
catalogue* aids materially in the study of each. The first 
section is devoted to legislation, organization, and statistics of 
the schools of Belgium. By means of charts and diagrams, the 
visitor gets at the outset a schematic view of the school 
system of the country, and the relation which the different 
types of school bears to the general system of education. 
Section two is devoted to the earliest period of school life — 
helps for the use of mothers — and a fully equipped kinder- 
garten. Section three begins with the primary school ; and 
here again is a model room entirely fitted up with furniture, 
pictures, books, charts, and all the auxiliaries of such a school. 

^ Germain, Mus/e scholaire national : Catalogue provisoire des collections 
(Bruxelles, 1892). 



1896] Museums and libraries of Eiirope. 389 

Section four is devoted to the subject of agriculture as taught 
in the primary, secondary, and normal schools. Methods of 
teaching the blind occupy the fifth section. Domestic 
economy and housewifery, with all the appurtenances of a 
laundry and cooking school, form the sixth section. 

Manual training, as taught in the elementary and normal 
schools, is the basis of the seventh section. The courses of 
study, drawings, models, and specimens of work done by the 
Belgian children are exhibited, together with similar lines of 
work from Sweden, France, and Germany. The eighth section 
is devoted to geography. It contains 347 pieces, including 
text-books, wall and relief maps, globes, atlases, products, 
pictures, photographs, and models. It contains not only the 
geographical aids used in the schools of Belgium, but also 
good collections in use in other countries, including the 
United States. The ninth section is devoted to the geography 
of the Congo— a remarkably interesting collection, illustrating 
the geography of that part of Africa by means of books of 
travel, maps, pictures, photographs, natural products, imple- 
ments used by the natives, etc. The tenth section is devoted 
to the teaching of history and the Bible: the eleventh to 
gymnastics and physical training; the twelfth to the organiza- 
tion of normal schools; the thirteenth to the teaching of the 
natural and physical sciences; the fourteenth to drawing and 
historical art; the fifteenth to children's societies, savings 
banks, and the effects of alcohol ; the sixteenth to school 
organizations, supervision, and management; the seventeenth 
to school hygiene ; the eighteenth to a temporary display of 
the work done by the pupils in the elementary and normal 
schools; and the nineteenth section is the pedagogical library. 
The museum contains more than 5000 different objects, and 
the library has 6500 books and 3000 pamphlets and reports. 

Sweden — An educational library (Pedagogiska Biblioteket) 
was opened at Stockholm in 1885 by the Swedish teachers* 
association. It began with 2855 volumes, not including jour- 
nals, reports, and catalogues, and now numbers more than 
13,000 volumes. According to the first volume of the cata- 



390 Educational Review [April 

loguc,"'the library is classified as follows: (i) journals, reports, 
and proceedings; (2) encyclopedias and collections of standard 
educational writings; (3) education and instruction in general; 
(4) methods of teaching special subjects — religion, history, 
geography, language, manual training, etc.; (5) university 
education; (6) school hygiene and architecture; (7) history of 
education; (8) school systems in other countries. The library 
is open to the free use of teachers and school officers, as well 
as to writers of text-books and pedagogical treatises. It is 
supported by a teachers' association, and aided by appropria- 
tions from the school board of Stockholm and the department 
of public instruction for Sweden. 

Spain — The educational museum (Museo Pedagogico) of 
Spain was founded at Madrid in 1882, and intended rather for 
the education of teachers than for the investigations of scholars. 
It has a good collection of teaching appliances, and is most 
used by the normal-school students. As in France and Bel- 
gium, one notes special collections to illustrate the teaching of 
historical art. Regular courses of lectures are organized by 
the museum for the normal-school students and the teachers 
in the vicinity of Madrid. Like the national museums in 
France and the United States, the Spanish organization prints 
many pedagogical documents which are distributed to the 
teachers of the country. The printed catalogue" shows that 
the library contains several thousand well-selected pedagogical 
books. 

Italy — The Italian educational museum (Museo d'lnstruzzi- 
one e d'Educazione) was established at Rome in 1874, during 
the ministry of Sgr, Bonghi, on the plan of the museum at 
Vienna. It enjoyed great prosperity during its early history, 
but has lately been compelled to close for want of financial 
support. 

Holland — The Netherlandish educational museum was 
founded at Amsterdam in 1870 by a national association of 
teachers. The museum contains school books, plans of school- 

•" Lagerstedt, Katalog ofver Pedagogiska Biblioteket (Stockholm, 1891). 
" Cossio, Catdlogo general del Museo Pedagifgico (Madrid, 1889). 



1896] Museums and libraries of Europe 391 

houses, specimens of furniture and apparatus, portraits of dis- 
tinguished educators, and work from pupils of the intermediate 
schools. The library includes works on general pedagogy, the 
history of education, methodology, school systems of Holland, 
Austria, France, Great Britain, United States, Belgium, Sax- 
ony, and Switzerland, besides many educational journals and 
pamphlets. 

Denmark and Portugal — Of the Danish educational museum 
at Copenhagen, the writer was unable to obtain any ofificial 
information. Through a private correspondent there, how- 
ever, he learned that its chief characteristic w^as its inactivity. 
The Portuguese educational museum (Museu Pedagogic© 
Municipal) was opened at Lisbon in 1882. It is maintained by 
the city government ; but the writer failed to receive replies 
to his letters of inquiry regarding its development and present 
workings. 

W. S. Monroe 

State Normal School, 

California, Pa. 



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